National: Election officials are on the frontlines of defending democracy. They didn’t sign up for this. | Zach Montellaro/Politico

Voting for the 2022 midterms is already underway, and the nation’s top election officials are caught fighting a two-front war: Battling disinformation stemming from the last election, while simultaneously preparing for the next one. The officials are no longer just running elections. They’ve become full-time myth-busters, contending with information threats coming from the other side of the globe — and their own ranks. In interviews with 10 state chief election officials — along with conversations with staffers, current and former local officials and other election experts — many described how they have had to refocus their positions to battle a constant rolling boil of mis- and disinformation about election processes. They’re dealing with political candidates undermining the election systems that they still run for office in, and conspiracy theories that target even the most obscure parts of America’s election infrastructure. And they say the country will face the same issues this year as it elects a new Congress and decides control of three dozen statehouses. “The biggest challenge that we face is disinformation, about the 2020 election in particular, and more generally about the election system itself,” Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, a Democrat, said in an interview. Their battle against mis- and disinformation comes at a tenuous time for American democracy, as an already diminished faith in the U.S. electoral system risks slipping further still in 2022. A recent NPR/Ipsos poll found that 64 percent of Americans believed democracy was “in crisis and at risk of failing.” 

 Full Article: Election officials are on the frontlines of defending democracy. They didn’t sign up for this. – POLITICO

Transparency or conspiracy? Bill seeks public ballot reviews | Mark Niesse/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

It was a rare bipartisan election proposal: Make paper ballots public in Georgia so anyone who doubted election results could see for themselves. But a bill to make that idea a reality quickly sparked resistance. Opponents fear the legislation would enable endless “audits” driven by losing candidates who will never accept defeat, turning any ambiguity or mistake into the next stolen election claim. Democrats withdrew support for the measure following criticism from Fair Fight Action, a voting rights group that Democrat Stacey Abrams started, concerned that the proposal would do more to undermine elections than increase confidence in them. Georgia election officials conducted three ballot counts and repeated investigations of the 2020 election, finding isolated problems but no widespread fraud. Nonetheless, former President Donald Trump and some of his supporters have continued to spread conspiracy theories about the results. The bill’s backers say it would allow the public to verify elections, identify errors, detect counting mistakes and hold election officials accountable. Republican state Rep. Shaw Blackmon, the bill’s lead sponsor, said transparency is the key to building trust in elections. “This bill would give voters more confidence and help them understand more thoroughly our process,” said Blackmon, who represents Bonaire. “Both parties wanted a paper ballot because people are more comfortable working with real documents. And this makes those documents open to public inspection.”

Full Article: Bill would bring public ballot inspections to Georgia

National: Election experts sound alarms as costs escalate and funding dwindles | Mike DeBonis and Amy Gardner/The Washington Post

When a global pandemic threatened to throw the 2020 presidential election into chaos, hundreds of millions of dollars flowed to state and local election agencies to ensure they had the resources to conduct a fair and accessible election, ultimately allowing administrators to manage record turnout with relatively few hiccups. Two years later, that money is gone and while the pandemic has ebbed it has not disappeared, and new challenges have arisen, including rising security threats, supply-chain disruptions and escalating costs for basic materials such as paper ballots, which have gone up by as much as 50 percent around the country, according to some estimates. Election officials and voting experts are now warning as the midterm elections get underway that new funding is needed to avoid significant problems in November. “The scale of the need is in literally the tens of billions of dollars,” said Tiana Epps-Johnson, executive director of the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL), a nonpartisan, nonprofit group that distributed more than $300 million in grants to election agencies in 2020, funded by donations from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan. If Congress does not act quickly, “there will be gaps that could have a really negative impact on election departments’ ability to administer a safe and secure process this November,” she added. “That’s how you end up with lines that wrap around city blocks.”

Full Article: While Trump keeps focus on last election, election officials sound alarms about next one as costs escalate and funding dwindles – The Washington Post

National: County election systems just got a (simulated) stress test | Benjamin Freed/StateScoop

Officials from county governments across the U.S. on Friday theorized what they’d do if an election in their jurisdiction was upended by a blizzard, power outage, phishing attack, ransomware or disinformation campaign — or some combination of those events. On the first day of the National Association of Counties‘ annual legislative conference in Washington, the county officials, including some elected leaders and chief information officers, played out a tabletop scenario that asked them to describe how they’d respond to an election-night disaster. Tabletop exercises have become increasingly common in the election-administration community, with federal agencies like the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency holding nationwide, often closed-door events every year. The NACo event featured officials who, while maybe not directly involved in election work, could potentially have to help respond in case of an emergency. The NACo tabletop focused on a fictional community in Tennessee — Pictoria County, population 220,000 — with an election staff of 10 and IT workforce of 20, who assist with testing voting equipment before and on Election Day. In the first scenario, Pictoria County was hit with a freak, early-November snowstorm strong enough to knock down power lines, prompting the election director to ask the IT director how voting equipment will be delivered to all 150 precincts.

Full Article: County election systems just got a (simulated) stress test

National: Paper Shortage for Ballots Could Pose Difficulties for Elections | Andre Claudio/Route Fifty

With this year’s election season right around the corner, officials are warning that a shortage of paper for ballots, envelopes and other voting materials could create problems. The paper required for ballots must be a specific type that is higher quality than other kinds, explained Tammy Patrick, a senior adviser with the Democracy Fund, a nonpartisan foundation that focuses on elections and other issues. “It’s difficult to know exactly what the impact will be because we are not sure at what point these supply deficits will be filled,” Patrick told Route Fifty. “We have a situation where we have this high-quality ballot paper stock that we need for things ranging from voter registration forms, envelopes, provisional ballot forms, applications for ballots and even something as simple as a voter identification card,” she said, adding that U.S. elections are “still deeply rooted in the use of paper.” Patrick and others raised the issue of potential paper shortages affecting elections, along with rising paper costs, during a National Association of Counties meeting in Washington, D.C. over the weekend. As with other goods during the past year or so, supply chain kinks and labor shortages are among the factors blamed for shortages in the paper industry. The Electoral Knowledge Network notes that printing ballots involves extensive quality control measures and can involve using paper with features like watermarks.

Full Article: Paper Shortage for Ballots Could Pose Difficulties for Elections – Route Fifty

National: State judges across the U.S. face growing GOP pushback against rulings in election cases | Kira Lerner/Georgia Recorder

In mid-December, Texas’ highest criminal court revoked the state attorney general’s ability to use his office to prosecute election-related cases without the request of a district or county attorney. In an 8-1 opinion, the all-Republican court weakened Attorney General Ken Paxton’s power to independently go after perpetrators of voter fraud, a problem he says is rampant but is actually exceedingly rare. The decision angered Paxton, who took to Twitter to say the ruling “could be devastating for future elections in Texas.” But he didn’t stop there. In addition to filing a motion for a rehearing, he embarked on a campaign across conservative media calling on his voters to pressure the judges to reverse their ruling. His crusade is the latest example of how Republican officials are trying to discredit state court judges who rule against them or issue rulings they disagree with in election-related cases. Officials in other states, including Tennessee and Pennsylvania, are also using the tactic to undermine the judiciary and to sow doubt among voters about whether judges can be independent arbiters of fact when it comes to decisions about the administration of elections.

Full Article: State judges across the U.S. face growing GOP pushback against rulings in election cases | Georgia Public Broadcasting

Arizona: GOP-led Senate panel votes to hand-count all ballots | Bob Christie/Associated Press

Republican state senators on Monday advanced legislation that would require every ballot cast in Arizona’s elections to be counted by hand, with GOP proponents who embraced former President Donald Trump’s false narrative of massive voter fraud calling it a needed reform. The proposal from Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, was approved by the Senate Government Committee Monday afternoon on a 4-3 vote with no Democratic support. The measure is one of scores of election bills making their way through the Legislature this year. Rogers said her proposal for an all-hand count tabulation was prompted by comments made by Doug Logan, the CEO of the firm the Arizona Senate hired to recount 2.1 million Maricopa County ballots last spring, Cyber Ninjas. “This does away with the machines,” Rogers said. “When I interviewed cyber forensic expert Doug Logan … he told me that the biggest finding he has from the audit is that the more technology we use, the more chance there is to cheat.” Logan’s hand-counting operation used hundreds of people, lasted weeks and only recounted the presidential and U.S. Senate races. He confirmed that President Joe Biden won, as the original machine count had found. Jen Marson, executive director of the Arizona Association of Counties, said the proposal was simply unworkable. “As we know, we cannot get enough people in many of our counties to conduct the limited hand count that happens post-election,” Marson told the panel. “I struggle to believe that we would have enough people to hand count the entire election and all of the different ballot styles associated with that election in any kind of timely fashion.”

Full Article: GOP-led Arizona Senate panel votes to hand-count all ballots | Hosted

Colorado elections clerk is sued after passing on voting data | and Alexandra Ulmer/Reuters

A Colorado elections clerk was sued on Thursday after he copied data from voting machines with the help of two men with ties to groups supporting the false conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was stolen from former Republican President Donald Trump. Dallas Schroeder, who oversees elections in Elbert County, east of Denver, was sued by Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold for making two copies of his county’s voting system hard drives and then handing the images to “unauthorized people”, according to the lawsuit. In the civil lawsuit, filed in Elbert County District Court, Griswold demands that Schroeder return the copies and hand over the device he used to make them. Schroeder did not immediately respond to a Reuters email for comment. Schroeder is the second Colorado elections clerk to come under scrutiny for allegedly breaching voting systems as part of an “election integrity” effort by Trump supporters who falsely claim the 2020 election was marred by fraud. Suspected breaches are under investigation in other states, including in Michigan, where authorities last week said an unnamed third party had been given unauthorized access to a county voting system. In August, the FBI opened an investigation into a suspected security breach of voting equipment in Mesa County in western Colorado. Griswold, a Democrat, has accused Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters of facilitating that breach.

Full Article: Colorado elections clerk is sued after passing on voting data | Reuters

Georgia: Cybersecurity agency reviews hacking risk to voting system | Mark Niesse/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

 

A confidential report alleging Georgia’s voting touchscreens could be hacked is now being reviewed by the federal government. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency wrote in a court filing late Thursday that it will assess potential vulnerabilities and decide whether updates or patches are needed to mitigate risks. CISA’s action came in response to a report by a computer scientist who said votes could be changed if someone gained physical access to Georgia’s voting touchscreens or election management computers. Georgia election officials say the state’s voting systems are secure and that vulnerabilities discovered in a lab would be difficult to exploit in a real election. There’s no indication that Georgia’s election computers manufactured by Dominion Voting Systems were hacked in the 2020 election, but an ongoing election security lawsuit alleges the touchscreens could be exploited in future elections. Three ballot counts and multiple investigations checked the 2020 election results. Both Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and plaintiffs in the lawsuit have called for a redacted version of the hacking report to be made public, but CISA urged a judge not to disseminate further information for now.

 

Full Article: Feds assessing allegation of vulnerability in Georgia voting system

Indiana lawmakers say they want to secure elections. Voting groups say the focus is wrong | Kaitlin Lange/Indianapolis Star

Indiana lawmakers are advancing legislation that they say would further ensure confidence in Indiana’s elections amid a national focus on election security. But voting rights groups say the state is focusing on the wrong tactics with House Bill 1116, which passed out of the Senate elections committee on Monday despite opposition from Democrats. In order to request an absentee mail-in ballot online under the legislation, a voter would have to provide either their driver’s license number or the last four digits of the their Social Security number. State election officials say the bill codifies a process that was already implemented in 2020 when online ballot requests were first allowed and agreed upon by the co-directors of the Indiana Election Division. Voting rights groups, though, argue the requirement could limit who decides to request a ballot. Indiana Vote by Mail, Indiana League of Women Voters, Verified Voting and Free Speech For People sent a letter to lawmakers emphasizing that outfitting Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting machines with printers produces a paper trail that is “difficult or impossible” for Hoosiers to verify their votes or for election officials to use in audits. The font can be challenging to read and thermal paper used can rip or fade, the groups said in their letter.

Full Article: Indiana voting rights to look different under bills in House, Senate

Indiana: Voting Groups Urge Move to Paper Election Ballots | Tom Davies/Associated Press

A proposal for improving Indiana’s election security by adding small printers to thousands of electronic touch-screen voting machines is being criticized by voting rights groups as relying on ineffective and outdated technology. An Indiana Senate committee is scheduled to consider a bill Monday that includes moving up the deadline for counties to add such devices to any paperless voting machines to July 2024, 5-1/2 years earlier than current state law. The Indiana League of Women Voters, Indiana Vote by Mail and other groups argue that the state should end the use of all such machines and have all counties use paper ballots that voters mark before they are scanned for counting. The voting rights organizations said in a letter Thursday to legislators that the printer technology relies on lightweight thermal paper that is easily damaged and lets voters see only a portion of their ballot at a time through a small window. They call the estimated $2,600-per-machine price tag “an extraordinary cost for a poor solution.”

Full Article: Voting Groups Urge Indiana Move to Paper Election Ballots | Indiana News | US News

Kansas House committee explores options for expanding election audits | Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector

The Kansas secretary of state’s office and election reform organizations are backing legislation significantly broadening post-election auditing of close political races. A bill under consideration in the Kansas House would require hand counting of 10% of county precincts whenever a federal, statewide or legislative race was decided by a margin of 1% or less of votes on election night. The proposed reform would be applied in even-numbered election years on top of a 2018 requirement auditing occur in 1% of precincts in each county in randomly selected races for county, state and federal offices. In addition, House Bill 2570 would require new process-and-procedure audits of four randomly selected counties in odd-numbered years following a federal election. Clay Barker, deputy assistant secretary of state, said process audits would test voting machine accuracy, review the list of registered voters and in-person early voters, examine reasons for rejecting provisional ballots and look at signature verification materials. “Although we remain confident in our election procedures and audits, we understand the constant need to improve and enhance our processes,” Barker said. He said Secretary of State Scott Schwab’s office worked with the Kansas County Clerks and Election Officials Association to make certain reforms in the bill were attainable.

Full Article: Kansas House committee explores options for expanding election audits – Kansas Reflector

Michigan Secretary of State asks for criminal probe of alleged election machine tampering | Dave Boucher/Detroit Free Press

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson wants law enforcement to investigate allegations someone inappropriately accessed election equipment in a northern Michigan county. In a news release late Thursday, Benson said she’s asked Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and the Michigan State Police to look into reports she received this week that “an unnamed third party was allowed to access vote tabulator components and technology in Roscommon County.” “Michigan law is clear about the security threats that emerge when anyone gains unauthorized access to our election machines or technology, and I will have no tolerance for those who seek to illegally tamper with our voting equipment,” Benson said in a statement. Benson spokeswoman Tracy Wimmer said their office has no reason to believe the alleged misconduct occurred before the 2020 election. But she declined to provide specific details about when or how the allegedly unauthorized access occurred. At least one person obtained access to tabulation machines and data drives used for both Roscommon County and Richfield Township, a small area in the eastern portion of the county, according to the news release.  Unauthorized access to voting equipment is a felony under state law.

Full Article: Benson asks for criminal probe of alleged election machine tampering

New Jersey: Bill would revive stalled rule requiring state’s voting machines leave paper trail | Nikita Biryukov/New Jersey Monitor

For more than a decade, a New Jersey law requiring the state’s counties to use voting machines that can create a paper record of every vote cast has gone unenforced because of the amount of money it would cost counties. That may soon change. A new bill — sponsored by Sens. Linda Greenstein (D-Middlesex) and Jim Beach (D-Camden) — would alter the rule by requiring counties to purchase machines that create a paper trail when older machines age out. The bill would allow the New Jersey secretary of state to waive the requirement for machines used in an election before the bill’s effective date, which comes on the first day of the third month following its passage. The proposal would bar the secretary of state from issuing such waivers for machines purchased or leased after that date. Paper records can serve multiple purposes. Besides allowing voters to review their slips to ensure their votes were recorded correctly, they’re also used in election audits and recounts. The old requirement, set to go into effect in January 2009, was never enforced because provisions of the law required it to be suspended until New Jersey received federal funds for statewide machine upgrades or appropriated money for the purpose in the state budget. Those provisions appear to have been put in place to head off an unfavorable ruling from the Council on Local Mandates, which enforces a constitutional requirement that the state government pay for mandates it imposes.

Full Article: Bill would revive stalled rule requiring state’s voting machines leave paper trail – New Jersey Monitor

Oregon: Facing threats, elections workers lobby for bill that would increase penalties for harassment | Chris Lehman/The Oregonian

When Jackson County clerk Chris Walker arrived for work on Nov. 24, 2020, she encountered something she’d never experienced in her dozen years on the job. In a parking lot across the street from the elections office, someone had written in bold white paint: “NEXT TIME BULLETS.” “After walking across the street and taking photos, we spent the rest of the day pretty much in shock that this could have happened here,” said Walker. “The noise happening around the country had hit home.” Walker testified to the Oregon House Rules Committee Tuesday in favor of a bill that would increase criminal penalties for people convicted of harassing election workers. The bill would also exempt the home addresses of election workers from certain public records. “The goal is to protect the people who protect our democracy,” said Secretary of State Shemia Fagan in support of House Bill 4144. Fagan said elections workers in Oregon receive threats related to their work and submitted as evidence a portion of a letter that she says was received last month by an Oregon county clerk. “I’m coming after you. You will go down in flames – GUARANTEED!” read the handwritten letter.

Full Article: Facing threats, elections workers lobby for bill that would increase penalties for harassment – oregonlive.com

Pennsylvania: Election experts advise senators to initiate pre-canvassing | Eric Scicchitano/The Daily Item

Bipartisan policy experts advocated during a Senate committee hearing Tuesday that Pennsylvania lawmakers establish a pre-canvassing period that would allow election workers at least three days ahead of an election to prepare mail-in ballots for the formal count. The lack of a pre-canvassing period before polls open causes delays in processing and counting votes now that mail-in ballots are available to any registered elector. This most infamously occurred during the 2020 presidential election when a record 2.6 million mail-in ballots were returned. Local election officials warned months ahead that there would be backups in counting votes. The counts lasted days in many counties, allowing false claims of voter fraud to build. “Extended periods are ripe for the spread of misinformation and disinformation, as we saw in 2020 when former President Trump declared he won the state long before sufficient results were in. This long window was not only predictable but also avoidable,” said Matthew Weil, director of the Elections Project of the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) in Washington, D.C. … Weil told committee members seven days or longer would be best for pre-canvassing. However, he supports the three days suggested in Senate Bill 878, introduced last September by state Sen. David Argall, R-Berks/Schuylkill, and state Sen. Sharif Street, D-Philadelphia.

Full Article: Election experts advise PA senators to initiate pre-canvassing | Don’t Miss This | itemonline.com

Rhode Island Board of Elections pilots new algorithm to make risk-limiting audits more efficient | What’s Up Newport

On Friday, February 11th, the Rhode Island Board of Election hosted a group of national elections integrity experts to conduct a pilot Risk Limiting Audit (RLA) utilizing a new algorithm designed to improve the efficiency of the RLA process. The pilot was run using ballots cast for the November 2, 2021 Portsmouth special referenda (Question 1). The RLA also served as a refresher for Board of Elections and local Board of Canvassers staff. “Rhode Island is a leader in the use of Risk Limiting Audits to ensure the integrity of our election results, and we were pleased to partner with national experts to pilot a new algorithm designed to improve the efficiency of the RLA process,” said Robert Rapoza, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Board of Elections. “Results from this pilot RLA will ultimately be published and reviewed by elections experts around the country. We were pleased to help play a part in work to further improve RLAs, considered the ‘gold standard’ of election auditing techniques.” The pilot RLA took approximately 3-hours to complete and was successful in one round in which 240 ballots (out of 3,814 total ballots cast) were pulled and examined. The risk limit came out to 4.18% which means there is a 95.82% chance that the outcome is correct. The new algorithm would have required half the ballots to have likely achieved the same results.

Full Article: R.I. Board of Elections pilots new algorithm to make risk-limiting audits more efficient – What’s Up Newp

Texas: Advocates Struggle to Overcome New Voting Barriers | Laura Morales/Texas Observer

Before the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature passed a restrictive new voting measure last year, Molly Broadway was adept at navigating the state’s voting landscape. She had spent six years with Disability Rights Texas, an Austin-based nonprofit, specializing in advising voters on how to cast their ballot (regardless of party affiliation). That same confidence is hard to find nowadays. As the state’s first election after the passage of Senate Bill 1 looms, Broadway is dogged by uncertainty. SB 1 was a backlash to the pandemic-era accommodations several counties—especially Harris County—instituted in 2020, which saw record-high voter participation rates. The law prohibits counties from proactively sending mail-in ballot applications or implementing 24-hour voting and drive-thru voting. It also creates a slew of requirements for mail-in voting applications. “We’re trying to answer their questions and provide as much information as we can, as it’s being made available to us, but it can be challenging,” Broadway said. “And people have a lot of questions and concerns about it.” She said the changes introduce an “intimidation factor” for potential voters that could turn some off from voting at all. “Unless you are paying attention to this issue day in and day out, it is easy to get swept up by it,” she said. At the same time, newly gerrymandered political maps in Texas appear to water down the voting power of people of color, despite the fact that they made up 95 percent of the state’s population growth in the last decade.

Full Article: Advocates Struggle to Overcome New Voting Barriers in Texas

Wisconsin elections officials debunk fraud claims at Capitol hearing | Shawn Johnson/Wisconsin Public Radio

State election officials debunked several false claims about Wisconsin’s voter list Wednesday during testimony to a panel of lawmakers that had amplified the claims just a week earlier. Robert Kehoe, the technology director for the Wisconsin Elections Commission, told legislators that the agency wasn’t offended by criticism of its WisVote system, which maintains voter records and helps the state’s more than 1,800 local clerks plan for elections. But Kehoe said other claims being made about the system were stunning and showed a lack of due diligence on the part of people making the accusations. “I believe it is important to address questions and concerns, in part to distinguish between genuine issues, worthy of our energy to address and falsehoods that cause us to waste countless hours chasing ghosts,” Kehoe said. “If we fail to make this distinction, then Wisconsin will have lost an opportunity to address real concerns while focusing on imaginary anxieties.” Much of Kehoe’s testimony was focused on rebutting claims made by Peter Bernegger, a New London resident who is leading his own review of the 2020 election. Bernegger, who was convicted of federal mail and bank fraud in 2009, was invited to speak to the Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections, led by state Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls.

Full Article: Wisconsin elections officials debunk fraud claims at Capitol hearing | Wisconsin Public Radio

‘We have a project’: QAnon followers eye swing state election official races | Ed Pilkington/The Guardian

QAnon, the extremist conspiracy movement whose followers believe Donald Trump is waging war against the “deep state”, appears to have instigated a nationwide effort to take control of the US election process in critical battleground states ahead of America’s 2024 presidential election. In recent months concern has risen over the coordinated efforts of at least 15 candidates – committed to Trump’s “big lie” that the 2020 election was stolen from him – who are now running to serve as chief election officials in key swing states. At least eight of the candidates standing for secretary of state positions have formed an alliance in which they share tactics and tips for success, details of which the Guardian revealed last month. Should any of the candidates be elected, they would be in prime position to distort or even overturn election results in favor of Trump or another preferred presidential candidate in ways that could have a profound impact on or even determine the national outcome. All the big lie candidates vying to gain control of election counts at state level present themselves as Republicans. It is now emerging that QAnon played a critical role in steering far-right candidates towards the secretary of state races as part of what appears to be a calculated nationwide assault on American democracy.

Full Article: ‘We have a project’: QAnon followers eye swing state election official races | QAnon | The Guardian

National: Senators Look to Fix 1887 Electoral Act Putting U.S. Democracy at Risk | Blake Hounshell and Leah Askarinam/The New York Times

The Electoral Count Act is both a legal monstrosity and a fascinating puzzle. Intended to settle disputes about how America chooses its presidents, the 135-year-old law has arguably done the opposite. Last year, its poorly written and ambiguous text tempted Donald Trump into trying to overturn Joe Biden’s victory, using a fringe legal theory that his own vice president rejected. Scholars say the law remains a ticking time bomb. And with Trump on their minds, members of Congress in both parties now agree that fixing it before the 2024 election is a matter of national urgency. “If people don’t trust elections as a fair way to transition power, then what are you left with?” said Senator Angus King, an independent from Maine who has been leading the reform efforts. “I would argue that Jan. 6 is a harbinger.”

Full Article: Senators Look to Fix 1887 Electoral Act Putting U.S. Democracy at Risk – The New York Times

National: State election officials survived Trump’s attacks. Will they survive the ballot box? | Arit John/Los Angeles Times

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and her 4-year-old son were settling in to watch “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” after putting up Christmas decorations when dozens of protesters descended on her home in December 2020 chanting “Stop the Steal” and “We want an audit.” Benson had been on the radar of President Trump and his allies since the spring, when he railed against her decision to send absentee ballot applications to all Michigan voters, calling her a “rogue Secretary.” But the late-night protest, marked by what she described at the time as “armed individuals shouting obscenities,” solidified her role as a central figure in the fight over control of American elections. The stakes have increased heading into the 2022 midterm elections. Democratic groups, donors and incumbents like Benson have raised record amounts to secure seats in battleground states, while Trump loyalists are running on his unfounded election fraud claims, challenging Democrats and Republicans like Georgia’s Brad Raffensperger in their bids to administer elections and sign off on the results. “Secretaries of state are, in the battle over the future of our democracy, serving on the front lines,” said Benson, who is expected to soon announce her reelection plans, in an interview with The Times. “[C]learly the work that we did to successfully defend democracy in 2020 has placed us in a greater spotlight.”

Full Article: Secretaries of states are front and center in 2022 midterms – Los Angeles Times

National: State Legislators Ramp Up Push for Election Control | Carl Smith/Governing

According to a January 2022 NPR/Ipsos poll, seven in 10 Americans believe that the U.S. is in crisis, even at risk of failing. Unproven claims that fraud tainted the 2020 election, still being repeated even by government officials, are a driving force behind these fears. State legislators from both parties have aggressively pushed election reform, introducing a record number of bills relating to matters including registration, voting by mail, voter ID and drop boxes. Moving beyond this, some Republican lawmakers have introduced bills that could give legislatures more power to decide election outcomes. “We see legislation and legislative reaction after every big election,” says Tammy Patrick, senior adviser to the elections program at Democracy Fund. “But the process is morphing in a way because it’s taking on additional topics that are greatly gaining traction that they never would’ve gotten in the past.” One of the bills that has attracted the most attention, Arizona HB 2596, would give the Legislature power to accept or reject election results. In the event of a rejection, “any qualified elector” would be able to file an action in a superior court to request a new election.

Full Article: State Legislators Ramp Up Push for Election Control

National: Right-wing conspiracy theories target tool that fights actual voter fraud | Miles Parks/NPR

If Republicans over the past few years have made one thing clear, it’s that they really care about voter fraud. Sometimes they call it “election irregularities” or “shenanigans,” but the issue has become a calling card for a party whose voters by and large falsely think elections in the U.S. are tainted. Which is what makes a currently blossoming election conspiracy so strange: The far right is now running a disinformation campaign against one of the best tools that states have to detect and prevent voter fraud. And experts worry voting policy is already starting to suffer as a result. The tool is a shared database called the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC for short. It allows states to securely share voter registration data across state lines and with a number of other government agencies, like the Social Security Administration and departments of motor vehicles. That data-sharing allows participating states to expand ballot access by giving officials information that helps them reach out to eligible voters who have moved into the jurisdiction but have not yet registered to vote. But it also increases election security by notifying those same officials when a registered voter moves away or dies, allowing states to maintain more accurate voter rolls. “When you move away from a state, you don’t call your old state and say, ‘Please take me off the voter lists,’ ” said David Becker, an elections expert and former Justice Department attorney who led the development of ERIC while working at the Pew Charitable Trusts. “So to get really strong data that someone moved to another state — got a driver’s license there or maybe registered to vote — that’s really powerful information that allows states to keep their data up to date.”

Full Article: Right-wing conspiracy theories target tool that fights actual voter fraud : NPR

National: G.O.P. Declares Jan. 6 Attack ‘Legitimate Political Discourse’ | Jonathan Weisman and Reid J. Epstein/The New York Times

The Republican Party on Friday officially declared the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and events that led to it “legitimate political discourse,” and rebuked two lawmakers in the party who have been most outspoken in condemning the deadly riot and the role of Donald J. Trump in spreading the election lies that fueled it. The Republican National Committee’s voice vote to censure Representatives Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois at its winter meeting in Salt Lake City culminated more than a year of vacillation, which started with party leaders condemning the Capitol attack and Mr. Trump’s conduct, then shifted to downplaying and denying it. On Friday, the party went further in a resolution slamming Ms. Cheney and Mr. Kinzinger for taking part in the House investigation of the assault, saying they were participating in “persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.” After the vote, party leaders rushed to clarify that language, saying it was never meant to apply to rioters who violently stormed the Capitol in Mr. Trump’s name. “Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger crossed a line,” Ronna McDaniel, the Republican National Committee chairwoman, said in a statement. “They chose to join Nancy Pelosi in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens who engaged in legitimate political discourse that had nothing to do with violence at the Capitol.”

Full Article: G.O.P. Declares Jan. 6 Attack ‘Legitimate Political Discourse’ – The New York Times

Editorial: How Liz Cheney could force voters to defend our foundational principles | Barney Frank/The Washington Post

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and the Democratic leadership have already done American democracy a major service by their mutually respectful cooperation in investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. Their demonstration that political leaders can jointly defend foundational principles while differing sharply on other issues is invaluable. It could also be the basis for a great opportunity for American voters: the chance to express their support for the integrity of the democratic process regardless of their views on any other questions. This can be accomplished with a two-step process. First, Cheney runs for reelection, not in the primary to become the official Republican nominee but as a principled independent in the general election who retains her personal Republican allegiance. Second, Wyoming Democrats do not support a candidate to oppose her. The result would be a November contest in which all citizens of Wyoming could choose between two candidates who are aligned on the broad range of public policy issues and differ largely on the question of Donald Trump’s assault on the electoral process. Cheney can make clear that if elected, she will not vote for a Democratic speaker or change her position on any substantive questions. This will make it possible for other Republican leaders who share her principled commitment to campaign for her even though she is not the official nominee.

Full Article: Opinion | How Liz Cheney could force voters to defend our foundational principles – The Washington Post

Arizona Senate Republicans push bills to combat ‘voter fraud’ | Michael McDaniel/Courthouse News Service

An Arizona Senate committee voted Thursday to advance election reform bills that would prohibit the use of drop boxes and add a precinct tallying requirement prior to county tallying. Senator Wendy Rogers, a Republican from Flagstaff, presented Senate Bills 1058 and 1343 to the Senate Government Committee. “I’m Senator Rogers, I’m the sponsor of this bill,” Rogers said of Senate Bill 1058. “This is basically no more drop boxes. Over.” The former Air Force pilot’s comments were met with applause and laughter from the majority-conservative gallery. The chairwoman reminded the crowd that they must observe decorum in the reading or be excused from the proceedings. The committee took comments from the public, with few dissenters of the bills. One dissenter felt the bills could sway voter engagement. “I’m concerned about this and the other bills regulating voting because new restrictions on voting will have the effect of disenfranchising voters who may feel they can’t meet the challenges, and for no valid reason,” said Judith Simon, who has worked as a teacher for 33 years. “I’m thinking of voters in rural and tribal areas, [and] disabled and elderly voters, who may not read all the particular legal details and just hear, ‘Oh, we can’t use drop boxes at all anymore.’”

Full Article: Arizona Senate Republicans push bills to combat ‘voter fraud’ | Courthouse News Service

Georgia: Investigation undercuts claim that 1,000 people voted twice | Mark Niesse/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

After the hectic 2020 Georgia primary, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger made a bombshell allegation from the steps of Liberty Plaza outside the Georgia Capitol that 1,000 people potentially voted twice. A year and a half later, an investigation by his own office has found less double voting than he had suspected. Most of Raffensperger’s allegation couldn’t be proved, the latest claim of voting fraud surrounding the 2020 election that fell short under scrutiny. Unlike former President Donald Trump’s false claims about his election being stolen, investigators validated some of Raffensperger’s assertions of double voting. The secretary of state’s office disclosed preliminary findings of its double voting investigation in response to requests by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The investigation so far indicates about 300 voters cast two ballots in the June 2020 primary and August 2020 primary runoff, almost always because of mistakes by confused voters and poll workers. The number of double voters could rise because about 100 cases remain under investigation.

Full Article: Investigation undercuts claim that 1,000 people voted twice in Georgia

Idaho Senate committee approves post-election audits bill | Kelcie Moseley-Morris/Idaho Capital Sun

The Senate State Affairs Committee advanced two bills Wednesday morning related to the Idaho Secretary of State’s office, including a new law that would require post-election audits of a random selection of counties after a general or primary election. Senate Bill 1274 was introduced to the committee by Deputy Secretary of State Jason Hancock, who said the audits would increase public confidence in election results, and it’s a practice that many states have already implemented. “We take election integrity very seriously at the Secretary of State’s office, we take allegations of election insecurity very seriously, and … we have a lot of people right now who think we have problems with our election system,” Hancock said. Following the presidential election in 2020, former President Donald Trump and his supporters have alleged voter fraud and other conspiracies they say led to President Joe Biden’s electoral victory. Ten Idaho legislators signed a letter in October calling for a 50-state audit of the election results. Election results have been audited in several states, including Idaho, and no fraud has been found. Under the new bill, the audits would be open to attendance by media personnel, candidates and representatives from political parties. The exact procedures for the audits would be developed with county clerks, according to the bill text.

Full Article: Idaho Senate committee approves post-election audits bill – Idaho Capital Sun

Michigan Secretary of State asks for probe into voting machine access in Roscommon County | Craig Mauger/The Detroit News

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is asking the Attorney General’s office and the Michigan State Police to investigate reports that an “unnamed third party” was granted access to voting technology in Roscommon County. Benson, the state’s top election official, announced the request in a statement Thursday. She also sent a letter to clerks across the state, saying Michigan law is “clear that unauthorized third parties may not have access to election technology and data.” “Our office has recently received multiple credible allegations of instances in which an unauthorized third party has been granted access to vote tabulation machines in violation of Michigan law,” Benson’s letter began. At least one third party allegedly gained inappropriate access to tabulation machines and data drives used in Richfield Township and Roscommon County, according to the Secretary of State’s office. Such access could require the equipment to be replaced at taxpayer expense, the office said. Roscommon County Clerk Michelle Stevenson and Richfield Township Clerk Greg Watt didn’t respond Thursday evening to requests for comment. Richfield Township Supervisor John Bawol said he didn’t know what Benson’s statement was referring to. Contracts with voting system vendors and state law restrict access to voting equipment to qualified personnel, the secretary of state’s statement said.

Full Article: Benson asks for probe into voting machine access in Roscommon County